Manager fired for shaming employee with obscene cake

A RESTAURANT manager and several staff members have been fired after using an obscene cake to shame an employee who made a complaint about sexual harassment.

Emily Houser, an 18-year-old from Pennsylvania in the US, said she was harassed, stalked and abused for two years by her manager, 26-year-old Josh Davidson.

"[The] new manager found particular interest in me and began forcing me to go on dates with him. He would just show up to my house uninvited and say he was outside and I had to come with him," Ms Houser told BuzzFeed News.

"Over a two-year period, it just kind of escalated into him providing me with gifts of significance and money and flowers and cards and things that I wasn't really accepting of, things that made me extremely uncomfortable because I was not sure what he expected of me from these gifts."

The final straw was when he appeared in her high school car park on her birthday and publicly asked her to be his girlfriend - to which she said no.

She put in her notice and made a formal complaint to the restaurant chain's corporate headquarters, accusing him of harassment.

When he was transferred to another branch, he and his mates threw a party with a cake that said "F*** Emily Houser", sharing the image with the hashtag #teamjosh.

"Have your cake and eat it too hoe #petty," said the caption.

She said she felt numb when she saw the image shared on Instagram because she believed her colleagues were some of her best friends.

"I didn't know how to feel, except I just didn't really feel anything," she said.

Instagram

"And then I just started to cry, because I came to terms with the fact that I did call these people my friends and I did love them and care about them, and I have no idea why they were doing this to me."

The restaurant sent Buzzfeed News a statement confirming Mr Davidson and other employees involved in the party were no longer with the company.

"We do not condone and are disappointed by the actions that took place. When this issue surfaced, our franchise partner conducted a thorough investigation," it said.